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Elaine Wilson

Foundation

Fine Art

Wilson’s aim is ‘to play with notions of artifice and deception, confinement and domesticity’. Much of her sculpture has used ceramic processes, including an installation of 50 porcelain wall objects exhibited at the Royal Society of British Sculptors. These combined anatomical elements with ornamentation: she described them as ‘fetish-ised with ribbon, beads and lace’ Her work often draws on literature particularly that of Angela Carter, Virginia Woolf and Charlotte Perkins-Gilman. Wilson was awarded a residency at the European Ceramics Centre in Holland, and while there was influenced by the ornamentation of Dutch still life painters, particularly Vermeer and van Eyck. She was selected for an exhibition at Alden Biesen Castle in Belgium to mark 5 years of residencies at the EKWC, and on her return to Britain had a solo exhibition with a work purchased for the South East Arts collection. A recent series of collages, explore pattern and stitch and have been constructed by cutting images of intricate lace patterns, echoing the lace-maker’s painstaking repetition and attention to detail. The layers of paper are cut and overlapped to create different focal points and depths, revealing the underlying ‘memory’.

Elaine Wilson images

View Gallery Page
Collage 2008

EDUCATION 

ROYAL ACADEMY SCHOOLS, LONDON M.A.
DUNCAN OF JORDANSTONE SCHOOL OF ART DUNDEE. B.A.

AWARDS AND PRIZES

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE, NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY 2008-9
JD FERGUSON TRAVEL AWARD, PERTH ART GALLERY & MUSEUM
CONTEMPORARY ART PURCHASE PRIZE, SOUTH EAST ARTS
RESIDENCY, EUROPEAN CERAMICS WORKCENTRE
HENFIELD AWARD, ROYAL ACADEMY
ROYAL ACADEMY GOLD MEDAL
SCOTTISH EDUCATION TRAVEL AWARD
DUNCAN OF DRUMFORK TRAVEL SCHOLARSHIP

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

SOLO SHOW, GIFT 10 VYNER STREET, LONDON
‘CERAMIC SCULPTURE, BATH SPA UNIVERSITY GALLERY
‘SPOILED’ HATTON GALLERY, NEWCASTLE
A SWARM OF FOLLIES’ GLOBE GALLERY,NEWCASTLE
PRIME, COLLABORATION, ROYAL SOCIETY OF BRITISH SCULPTORS, LONDON
‘PRIME’ COLLABORATION, POOLE STUDY GALLERY, POOLE
OTHER ROOMS COOPERS & LYBRAND, LONDON
STEPHEN CARRUTHERS GALLERY, HACKNEY
LIFTING THE VEIL EUROPEAN CERAMICS WORKCENTRE, HOLLAND
SUGAR AND SPICE MILTON GALLERY, ST. PAULS, LONDON

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

‘DARTBOARD FOR WITCHES, ABERYSTWYTH ARTS CENTRE, WALES(SUMMER)
GLOBE GALLERY, NEWCASTLE
ARTS FAIR. ISLINGTON, ENGLAND & CO GALLERY
FORM, ARTS FAIR OLYMPIA
GALLERY ARTISTS, ENGLAND & CO GALLERY
‘SCULPTURAL PROCESSES’ POOLE STUDY GALLERY
ROYAL ACADEMY SUMMER SHOW
DISCERNING EYE. MALL GALLERIES, LONDON
FABRIC. ABBOT HALL, KENDAL
5 YEARS AT THE EKWC SELECTED BY ART CRITIC DAN HOLSBEEK, ALDEN BIESEN CASTLE, BELGIUM
‘AWARD WINNERS’ FERGUSSON GALLERY, PERTH

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

SOUTH EAST ARTS
TOWNER ART GALLERY AND MUSEUM, EASTBOURNE
PERTH MUSEUM, PERTH, SCOTLAND

TEACHING

CURRENTLY PART TIME LECTURER IN SCULPTURE AT CITY & GUILDS OF LONDON ART SCHOOL

TEACHING EXPERIENCE –
KINGSTON UNIVERSITY
WIMBLEDON SCHOOL OF ART
BIRMINGHAM UNIVERSITY
NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY
SACI SCHOOL OF ART, FLORENCE
CAN SERRAT ART CENTRE, BARCELONA 

From a review of  'SPOILED': Ceramic Sculptures by Elaine Wilson shown at the Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne. 27 November 2009 – 21 February 2010.

In its early days ‘feminism’ was a buzzword for right-on young women aware of their rights, now feminism has seemingly become a dirty word. It is no surprise then, that there has been a resurgence of impassioned critical and institutional debates about the relevance of feminism in today’s allegedly ‘post-feminist’ art world. At feminism’s core is the idea of the female gaze, in other words, how women see themselves within a dominant patriarchal culture. It is precisely this ideology which underpins the work of Elaine Wilson. Using the language and tradition of ornamental sculpture and figurines, Wilson’s work explores received ideas about women and femininity and the perpetuation of romantic and stereotypical ideals. The relationship between self-reflection and self-awareness is explored in ‘Seeing myself Seeing’ - two large ceramic figurines whose gaze is reflected back from fixed ‘pools’ of gloss colour. The paradox of self and the objectified ‘other’ is manifest in the series ‘Fleurs du Mal.’ Slip-cast in porcelain using mass-produced moulds; these female figurines are hauntingly reminiscent of kitschy ornaments. Tattooed with reassembled ceramic transfers of romantic pastoral scenes and precariously positioned on camouflage-painted plant stands, these multiples subvert traditional ceramic processes and question the ‘otherness’ of narcissism and masquerade. Bound up with nostalgia and tradition, Elaine Wilson’s poignantly beautiful figurines speak of woman’s ultimate failure to live up to the andocentric demands of so-called femininity. LT


 


Also read:

Elaine's website
www.elainewilson.co.uk